Chef919

Thank you both for your quick responses. Perhaps I gave you the wrong impression. My purpose for encouraging him to pursue MA is not solely for the purpose of beating up an attacker (although that does seem to be the definition of "self-defense" to me). What draws me more to MA than just buying a heavy bag and gloves and teaching him how to fight conventionally is the tradition in MA of learing first how to avoid and diffuse violent situations while maintaining your dignity and self-respect. Believe me the last thing I want is my kid involved in schoolyard brawls. However I also know a bit about this since I was about his size when I was his age and suffered through similar problems. It didn't stop until I finally stood up for myself and pounded my bully. I know the humiliation of going home to face your father having bumps and bruises and having to admit you got beat up. That can have a long lasting effect on your self-esteem and continue on into adulthood. I want him to have confidence in himself and self-respect and in a worst case scenario I want him to know he has the ability to defend himself and I know from experience that at some point there comes a time when you simply have to fight. So it's not simply the violent aspects I am looking at. It's the self-respect, the confidence, the ability to diffuse situations...all those things...AND if necessary the ability to fight in a worst case secnario

My son has been getting harassed at school for a few months. The school does not seem to want to do much about it so I feel it is time to take the next step and teach my son to defend himself since it is starting to get violent. He's a small boy, which of course makes him a target for this sort of thing, so I was thinking some close contact forms like Judo or Jujitsu that focus on grappling and ground fighting might best fit him. I considered Krav Maga but I just want him to be able to defend himself not break someone's neck...he's only 7 years old and teaching him that seems a bit irresponsible to me right now. I do know that in his training I want him to have actual contact. I think he needs to learn what it feels like to hit a person instead of kicking at the air and what it feels like to take a hit as well. At the same time I want to make sure he doen't get beat up more at class than on the playground. I also want to make sure he learns how to diffuse a situation before resorting to violence. He's very smart and learns quickly, and has a pretty muscular build. He's built like a fire hydrant. More than anything else he needs to learn to fight in a way that will enable him to protect himself in reality and not just in a tournament setting where there are rules, and pads. My questions are: Given his small size what form of art would you suggest? How do I go about researching schools and checking their qualifications? We live in Phoenix so almost all forms are available to us...at least I would assume. What things should I look out for in a school that should raise a red flag? What can I do as a father to help him learn? Any help would be appreciated.